Favorite Holiday-Themed Cases [Repost from Concurring Opinions’ Archive]

In 2007, I guest-blogged at the group law professor blog Concurring Opinions. With the demise of that blog, I am now archiving my guest posts on my own blog. This post first appeared on January 11, 2007.]

I can’t imagine doing anything as radical as wearing a chicken suit when teaching the chicken case in Contracts, but I do like to find ways to reinforce classroom pedagogical lessons in entertaining ways. In particular, when timed right, it’s especially fun to teach holiday-themed material on or around the holiday.

For example, around Halloween, Contracts or Property professors can teach Stambovsky v. Ackley, 572 N.Y.S.2d 672 (NY App. Div. 1991), in which buyers sought rescission for failure to disclose that their new house was haunted. Among other remarkable aspects, the court said that the house was haunted as a matter of law. Or, Civil Procedure professors might teach US ex rel Mayo v. Satan, 54 F.R.D. 282 (W.D. Pa. 1971), which matter-of-factly discusses whether it is possible to establish personal jurisdiction over Satan.

I’m not particularly creative about holiday/teaching material pairings, so I’ll turn the question over to you. What’s your favorite holiday-themed case or other teaching material? Any good St. Patrick’s Day materials? Valentine’s Day? Earth Day? Festivus?